Hello! Kelly here today to teach you the advantages of and use of the dual-carriage found on the CAMEO 3 and Curio. It’s one of my favorite features of these machines.

Note: This tutorial uses Silhouette Studio® V3.8.118 (basic edition). If you are running a different version, you may see some slight differences from my screen-shot examples.

What Are The Advantages Of A Dual-Carriage?

  • No interruption between common processes like Sketch & Cut or Curio’s Score & Emboss
  • Cut multiple types of materials needing different blade settings without manually changing the blade between materials
  • Less time spent switching tools on multitask jobs

It’s all done in the Cut Settings Window before you send your job to the Silhouette.

OPTION ONE: USING THE DUAL-CARRIAGE WITH STANDARD CUT SETTINGS

Silhouette Dual Carriage Tutorial by Kelly Wayment for Silhouette

The Standard Cut Mode in the Cut Settings Window is somewhat limited in that the left tool holder will always cut first, and you can only have it smoothly complete two tasks on a job—one task per tool holder.

(Technically you can change what’s selected on the design between cuts and send it multiple times to your Silhouette without loading the mat in between, but that’s too tedious to explain when there’s an easier way. See the Advanced Cut Settings option below.)

To keep it simple in Standard Mode, I’ll assume one sketch pen color and an outer cut edge to be cut with the CAMEO 3 automatic blade.

  1. In the Cut Settings Window, choose Standard Cut Mode.
  2. Select just the outer edge of the designs (hold Shift while clicking to select multiple shapes).
  3. While those edges to be cut are selected,
    • Choose Tool 1 (the red circle)
    • Material Type = Cardstock – Plain
    • Blade Type = Automatic Blade
    • Adjust any settings as necessary (I always increase Thickness to 30-33 for cardstock)
    • Put your automatic blade in Tool Holder 1 (left side, marked with a red circle)
  4. Now select just the inner parts of the design to be sketched.
    • Choose Tool 2 (the blue circle)
    • Material Type = Silhouette Sketch Pen
    • Blade Type = Sketch Pen (will be selected by default)
    • Adjust any settings as necessary
    • Put your sketch pen in Tool Holder 2 (right side, marked with a blue circle)
  5. Load the mat and Send to Silhouette.

Note: If using a ratchet blade, you can choose to sketch first by doing step 4 and choosing Tool 1 for your pen, then using the ratchet blade for Tool 2 in steps 2-3. Curio users, don’t forget to use the correct platforms.

Silhouette Dual Carriage Tutorial by Kelly Wayment for Silhouette

 

OPTION TWO: USING THE DUAL-CARRIAGE WITH ADVANCED CUT SETTINGS

Silhouette Dual Carriage Tutorial by Kelly Wayment for Silhouette

With the Advanced settings, I can use a multi-colored sketch design that I’ve colored with various Line Colors (in the Line Color Window), with an outer cut line for each ornament.

In the Cut Settings Window:

  1. Check Advanced Cut Mode.
  2. Select Line Color as Cut Order.
  3. Drag colors to desired cut order (top line cuts first, then on down) and set out pen colors/blades in that order.
  4. Select correct tool for each color (red or blue circle).
  5. Add a Pause if you are using 3 or more tools/pens so you are able to swap out tools/pens before resuming. (Right click to select a pause after the line color you click on.)
  6. For each color, choose a Material Type. Note that you cannot have different settings for the same material type in the list. (e.g. changing a blade depth on any line that says Cardstock will use that blade depth for every line in this job that says Cardstock.)
  7. For most materials the default is the ratchet blade, so CAMEO 3 users must make sure the Automatic Blade is selected for each material type to be cut (not sketched) with this blade. The Sketch Pen should show as the default blade type for any colors where you chose Silhouette Sketch Pen as the Material Type.

Note: Curio users, remember to use the correct platforms.

Silhouette Dual Carriage Tutorial by Kelly Wayment for Silhouette

 

More About Advanced Cut Settings

Silhouette Dual Carriage Tutorial by Kelly Wayment for Silhouette

I also want to point out on the Advanced Cut Settings that you still have options for Cut vs. Cut Edge and Cut or No Cut that you may be familiar with in the Standard Mode.

  1. A check in the blue box means that line color will cut. Uncheck to turn off cutting for that line color. This is helpful if you want to send just one line color through again before unloading if it didn’t draw or cut enough the first time.
  2. Click the square showing an overlapping rectangle and circle to toggle between Cut and Cut Edge for overlapping objects with that line color.
  3. You will see the bold preview lines change on your Studio work page as you select these different options.

That’s all there is to it! The dual carriage is a real time saver for multitasking. What do you like best about the dual carriage?